London 2012 Olympics: BOA holds fire over whether it would reject athletes nominated by British Wrestling

The British Olympic Association insists it is “far too early” to say whether
it would consider rejecting any athletes nominated for Team GB by British
Wrestling following the recent controversies over imported athletes and the
drug-test failure by Greco-Roman wrestler Myroslav Dykun.

Golden moment: Myroslav Dykun with his Commonwealth gold for England in Delhi in 2010 is currently suspended and facing a lengthy drug banPhoto: PA

Colin Nicholson, the British Wrestling chief executive, has been summoned to a meeting with the BOA in London next week to discuss the case of Dykun, who has tested positive for amphetamines, and the immigration status of Ukrainian-born female wrestlers Jana Stadnik and Olga Butkevych.

The two women, who are considered Britain’s best medal hopes for the London Olympics but who only completed their five years of residency in February, have yet to receive their UK passports and will be ruled out of the Games if their documents do not arrive before the selection deadline of June 1.

With Dykun, who won Commonwealth gold for England in Delhi in 2010, currently suspended and facing a lengthy drug ban, there are concerns that British Wrestling will be unable to fill its three host-nation places with athletes that are deemed “credible” by the BOA.

That could prompt the BOA to take the unprecedented step of rejecting athletes nominated for selection by British Wrestling, though it insists such a scenario will not be under discussion at next week’s meeting.

A BOA spokesman said: “The purpose of the meeting is just to understand the facts around what we have all seen reported in the past few weeks and to understand how those matters are being addressed by the national governing body.”

Nicholson insists the BOA have been fully behind British Wrestling’s policy of recruiting overseas athletes for its elite squad.

Indeed, in an interview with Telegraph Sport earlier this year, BOA chief executive Andy Hunt confirmed that he had written a letter to the UK Border Agency in support of Stadnik’s passport application.

Nicholson said: “British Wrestling has got a strategy and the BOA have been supportive of it. They have their sports relationship managers and there has been a good level of liaison between British Wrestling and the BOA.

“We are just dealing with an unfortunate incident [of the drug test]. These do occur and now we are having to manage it.”

Nicholson refused to say whether Dykun would be seeking a personal hearing following his positive drug test due to the confidentiality of the case.

“All I would say is that Myroslav had a lot of talent which potentially is going to waste, which is sad for him and sad for the sport,” said Nicholson.

“If it’s all proven, then it’s a personal tragedy and it’s a tragedy for the sport because he has performed well in the past when everything has been going in his direction, as his gold at the Commonwealth Games showed.”